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This was over the course of twelve steeps a nice tea. It started off bitter sweet. After the leaves opened up it was just bitter. Then a sweet note developed but there was a bitter aftertaste. Soon this disappeared and it was just sweet. Not sure what to call the notes so I won’t try to describe them.

I steeped this twelve times in a 150 ml gaiwan wiih 8.1g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

Drinking this for the third or fourth time. It is definitely a good ripe. What I am asking myself is was it worth the price. It think their are some subtle notes to this tea that most ripe doesn’t have. I think it is definitely better than the average ripe. But I have not yet convinced myself that it was worth the price.

There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor and an initial bittersweet note. After a few steeps the fermentation went away and a sweet note remained. Overall this was excellent tea.

I steeped this 16 times in a 160ml solid silver teapot with 14.9g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, 2 min, 2.5 min, 3 min, 3.5 min, and 4 min. If I wanted to continue I am sure this tea would go 20 or 25 steeps but I have just drank an awful lot of tea at 16 steeps.

This was a fairly tasty shou puerh with a lot a fermentation flavor and a wet storage note in the first steep. The wet storage note was only in the first steep, the fermentation lasted about six steeps. It was initially somewhat unpleasant tasting but not fishy. Puerhshop describes this brand as premium shou and this one sells for about $35. Not a large amount to pay if you do consider the brand to be a premium brand. As I know of no other seller selling this brand I don’t know how to judge if this was a premium product. I am sure it can be found on Taobao but I have not looked. In any case I think it was good enough to justify a price of $35 a cake. It did develop a nice sweet note in the end. There may have been some notes of chocolate in there but I wasn’t really paying attention to the specifics, I was just enjoying the tea. It was tasty and I am not upset that I bought a whole cake. We will see if it improves in a couple of years or so.

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with 14g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute.

This was a very inexpensive sheng from Puerhshop. Given the price of just over $17 I did not have too high expectations. Still this tea was better than the average cheap sheng. It had developed a nice orange colored tea liquid. It had not developed the taste of leather and tobacco that I frequently find in eight to ten year old sheng. It was fairly sweet at first until the tea opened up. Then it got bitter for a few steeps. Somewhere around steep eight I noticed it got sweet again. This was not the apricots of a young sheng. I am not sure how to characterize it so I won’t try. This was a very solid iron cake. I broke out the ice pick for this one and had a hell of a time prying off leaves. The average tea pick wouldn’t have been sufficient and those cheap tea picks they sell would have broken.

I steeped this twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 9.8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 445 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The only truly disappointing thing about this tea is I felt no qi from it but then again I usually don’t feel noticeable qi from teas that others report have good qi. If anyone is looking for a cheap sheng that is good enough to drink but doesn’t cost too much I would recommend this one. While it was in no way spectacular it did have it’s good points. First it was cheap. Second it had no unpleasant aged flavors. Third the bitterness did not last and was replaced by a mildly sweet note. By sweet note I do not mean sugar sweet. I think this one was worth the money I spent on it certainly. If I had paid $80 or $90 for this I would have been disappointed but at $17 I am pretty happy with the purchase.

Got this with the White2Tea club a couple of months back and just now tried it. It is pretty good. There was a strong but smoky orange flavor at first and the fermentatioin was not too strong. Unfortunately the orange flavor was only strong into the first four steeps. Still, it was still a nice tasting ripe after this flavor was history. There was really no bitterness to this tea.

I steeped this ten times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with one whole mandarin or about 11g leaf and boiling water. I steeped this for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, and 1 minute. Could have gotten a few more steeps out of it but ten steeps was a lot of tea.

Bought this with my last order to Puerhshop. This was a fairly nice semi aged raw tea. It was very densely compressed. After it opened up there were some notes of tobacco and leather. These were not too long lived and they were replaced at least largely by a sweet note. I failed to accurately identify this note but chestnuts and mushrooms came to mind. But that is by no means definitive. I will say it transformed into something fairly nice if not spectacular.

I brewed this twelve times in a 150ml gaiwan with 8g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. It could have gone a few more steeps but twelve was enough for me.

This is a very good ripe puerh with bits of dried orange peel in it. The taste of the orange peel was only present for maybe the first six steepings or so. It took a couple of steeps to open up and then I noticed the fermentation flavor. This lasted perhaps four or five steeps. And what was left was a nice semi sweet ripe puerh. It was vary good and not expensive as I recall.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with 14.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes.

This was a pretty good ripe puerh. It is also quite cheap. Goes for only $6 or so. It is neither spectacular nor is it bad. It is good but I mean it is average good, not incredible good. There was a fair amount of fermentation flavor to it. I found the taste of it a little unpleasant but not fishy. It was bittersweet at the start and evolved into a nice semi sweet ripe puerh tea.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with 14.3g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 minutes. Could of gotten some more out of the leaves but twelve steeps is a lot of tea.

This is a fairly nice ripe tea with bittersweet notes in the beginning and a fair amount of fermentation flavor. Both the bitterness and the fermentation persisted for about six steeps. I think it is probable to say there were some notes of chocolate in the mix too. After the fermentation was history a nice sweet note developed. Hard to say what to call it, it wasn’t really fruity but was definitely not a bitter note.

I steeped this twelve times in a 160ml Solid Silver Teapot with 16g leaf and boiling water. I gave it a 10 second rinse. I steeped it for 5 sec, 5 sec, 7 sec, 10 sec, 15 sec, 20 sec, 25 sec, 30 sec, 45 sec, 1 min, 1.5 min, and 2 min. The tea was not finished at twelve steeps. I could have kept going for another four or five steeps but twelve steeps is a lot of tea.